AAP stoops to conquer Delhi

To form govt with Cong support; Kejriwal to be CM

When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had decided to take a plunge into electoral politics and Arvind Kejriwal announced he would challenge the then chief minister Sheila Dikshit on her home turf, few would have thought Kejriwal would even win his own Assembly seat. But, the 45-year-old former Indian Revenue Service officer is set to be sworn in as Delhi’s youngest chief minister next week — not only signalling a paradigm shift in the country’s politics but posing a threat to national parties like the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

AAP, which became the second-largest party in the recently-concluded Delhi Assembly election, with 28 seats, on Monday announced it was ready to form a government in Delhi. The decision was based on a week-long public referendum, in which 74 per cent of the respondents favoured the party’s alliance with arch-rival Congress. Of the 70 Assembly seats, the Congress had won eight seats, while BJP had bagged 31.

“A large number of people are saying we should form a government in Delhi. We are ready,” Kejriwal told the media after a meeting of his party’s public affairs committee. Later, he met Delhi’s lieutenant governor, Najeeb Jung, and expressed his desire to be sworn in at the Ram Lila ground, which had been the epicentre of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade that catapulted Kejriwal to national fame.

Jung has sent AAP's proposal to President Pranab Mukherjee and the date for the oath-taking ceremony would be fixed shortly.

According to political analysts, with psephologists like Yogendra Yadav with it, AAP would have thought through and laid out its plan for the next six months - an exit strategy included.

"The situation is akin to the Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati running the Uttar Pradesh government for four-and-a-half months in 1995. Remarkably, she had doubled her vote share in the very next Assembly elections (in 1996). AAP must be looking at a similar strategy for the coming general elections," said Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst.

"The advantage with AAP is that it has fewer corporate and other obligations. Most of its funds had come from the public. This allows the party to take quick decisions," he said.

However, AAP member Prashant Bhushan was more forthright: "I don't know how long this government will last... one month, two months, six months..." The fear and doubt were clear in his tone.

The party has already announced its intention to contest the Lok Sabha polls as well.

AAP leader Shazia Ilmi said the party had prepared white papers on all the promises after extensive deliberations with retired bureaucrats and experts. "We will seek the support of bureaucrats in implementing those and Arvind will get cracking soon," she said.

The new-born party had come under severe criticism, with many experts denouncing the promises made by Kejriwal and his colleagues as unfeasible.

"They have touched the people on issues like reduction of electricity rates and supply of water. From the administrative and governance points of view, I think the implementation (of the promises) is not possible," said three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who had lost her seat to Kejriwal.

"I wish them well, I wish the people of Delhi well," Dikshit added, cautioning her party's support to AAP was neither unconditional nor blanket. "It is issue-based support. They have to be more civilised in the language they use."

BJP on Monday described AAP's decision to form a government with the Congress' support as betrayal. "It is literally a betrayal of the wishes of the people," the party's chief ministerial candidate, Harsh Vardhan, said.

Kejriwal's mentor Hazare refused to comment on the government formation.